Milwaukee County

Rindfleisch's attorney, judge disagree over appeal options

A decade-old immunity deal Kelly M. Rindfleisch got during the state Capitol caucus scandal could be fair game for an appeal of Rindfleisch's plea-bargain conviction, Rindfleisch's lawyer said Friday.

Rindfleisch, 43, pleaded guilty Thursday to one felony count of doing campaign work while at her taxpayer-paid county job as a staff aide to Gov. Scott Walker in 2010.

Her 2002 immunity deal was a point of contention with Circuit Judge David Hansher at the plea hearing. Hansher said Rindfleisch's old immunity deal could not be the basis for an appeal, contradicting her lawyer Franklyn Gimbel's belief that it could.

"The judge and I don't agree" that Rindfleisch's guilty plea precludes her from renewing her claim that her grant of immunity for her testimony in the caucus scandal extended to her conduct in 2010, Gimbel said in an interview. Hansher also rejected that when Gimbel raised it as a pretrial motion aimed at getting the charges against Rindfleisch dismissed.

Hansher also said he was surprised to see Gimbel bring up the immunity issue as a permissible basis of appealing a voluntary guilty plea when he read it in a Journal Sentinel article on the case that broke on JSOnline late Wednesday. The judge said he consulted with several other judges on the point and they agreed with his interpretation.

"It's the court's view that (appeal) right would be extinguished" by her guilty plea, Hansher said in court Thursday.

"We're not here to discuss the merits of any appeal here with you, your honor," Gimbel told the judge.

Gimbel said he expected to appeal Rindfleisch's conviction but declined to say for sure whether he'll raise the immunity issue. He also could appeal on the ground that Rindfleisch's personal emails obtained by prosecutors should have been off-limits, according to terms of her plea agreement.

A guilty plea to a crime generally forecloses a defendant's right to appeal, except under a few narrow circumstances, including whether the court had proper jurisdiction, according to legal experts.

Rindfleisch's 2002 immunity deal was in connection with an investigation into state legislators and aides doing campaign work at their state jobs. Rindfleisch worked as a Republican legislative aide from 1995 to 2004. A handful of legislators were charged in that probe.

Gimbel also said Friday he expected Walker would have testified that Rindfleisch completed all of her assigned tasks in her county job. Had the case gone to trial, Gimbel said he would have shown that Rindfleisch's campaign work didn't interfere with her ability to satisfactorily complete her county tasks.

"She earned all the money she got paid as a county employee because she did not shirk on her county responsibilities," Gimbel said. "We would not have denied that she was doing some fundraising for Brett Davis."

Prosecutors said Rindfleisch used a secret email system set up in her courthouse office to work on fundraisers for Davis, who was then a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. He is now state Medicaid director and a Walker appointee.

Prosecutors also found more than 1,000 emails on Rindfleisch's computer with aides to Walker's campaign for governor. Those emails were exchanged between Rindfleisch and Keith Gilkes, Walker's campaign manager; Stephan Thompson, the deputy campaign manager; and Jill Bader, Walker's campaign communications director, according to the criminal complaint against Rindfleisch.

State law bars campaign work and political fundraising in public buildings.

Gimbel said Rindfleisch had been ostracized by longtime friends, many working in state government, because of this year's criminal case.

"She's had extraordinary stresses and pain as a result of these charges," Gimbel said. "She's feeling very relieved that this is almost behind her."